The Creative Organizer

Here is a video my nephew created trying to clean his room. Although it took four days, you can watch the process in 26 seconds. If only it was that easy. Enjoy!

Get It Out Of The Desk!

Material Spatial Disorganization is a term coined by Dr. Mel Levine from All Kinds Of Minds. It refers to a challenge in organizing our physical world. Young or old, some of us have an uncanny ability to know where things are at a moment's notice. Others of us struggle with locating an object which leaves us frustrated and stressed. If this lost object is a homework assignment or a signed permission slip, then the consequences can be great.

We all know that a student's desk can be a black hole, accepting many objects but with no assurance that they will come out again. Our principal offered this solution. Use a folder bin to keep folders "at the ready". It makes filing loose papers more efficient...no digging through your desk to find the desired folder.


When in doubt, keep it out!

Make It Visable

Continuing on with the theme of accessibility, this is a nice strategy for those students who need to "see" the contents of their desks. Do you remember the old lift top desks? To retrieve materials, you raised the desk top to have a clear view of the desk contents. With today's standard "front loading" desks, you need to bend and peer into darkness. Try to construct a pull out drawer that fits standard folders and notebooks. We make ours from the covers of copy paper boxes. They are the correct width and just need to be cut down in length. Now the student is able to pull out the drawer to see what materials they need.

Drowning in Piles or Keeping Afloat?

Now that we are striving for order, let's be realistic. Piles happen. After all, if a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, then what is an empty desk a sign of?

Piles have their purpose and most people have a general system to seemingly unorganized mountains of paper on their desk. These are the "active" projects, not yet ready to "sleep" in file drawers. Visit the design your life blog to read the post on Piles: Everyone Gets Them.

I especially like Mike Essl's idea in the comment section. He uses clear pockets (called Job Ticket Holders available at Kinkos). If you are not ready to condemn paper or projects to the file drawer, place all related paper in a clear pocket. They are accessible on your desk as a distinct pile, ready to receive your attention. It may be the difference between drowning or keeping afloat!

Organize with Color

Color coding can make filing twice as fast. The eye recognizes color faster than it reads text. (Think about it: traffic signals use red-yellow-green lights, not signs marked “stop” “slow” and “go”).

Staples sells a set of transparent colored folders, ideal for sticking in that report you don't want to misplace in your bag or your homework you don't want to lose in your backpack.

Do you notice the comment area below? Click and share organizational ideas that have improved your productivity or have helped your students be on top of their game.

Mel Minute - Be an Organization Ally

Mel Levine, M.D. is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He is also the co-founder of All Kinds of Minds, a non-profit Institute for the study of differences in learning, with financier Charles R. Schwab. Dr. Levine has established a framework for understanding why children struggle in school. He provides a system for recognizing variations in the way children learn and uses their strengths to help them become more successful students.
Watch Dr. Mel Levine speak about being an organizational ally for a child. Visit his website, All Kinds Of Minds, to read more about Getting Organized and Good Work Habits.

Cool School Tool - Spatial Order Idea

Do you want to limit distractions while maintaining order on your desktop? Craft a desktop easel. We make ours from copy paper boxes...the folds are in the right places! If you have a sheet to study or copy, clip it to your easel. It also folds flat for easy storing. Try it, you might like it.

Organizing is Here to Stay!

January is Go Get Organized Month. Getting organized is a lot easier than staying organized. A key element is scheduling time in the day to maintain the order you have achieved. Students need time throughout the day to file papers as they go. Walking them through the steps is essential sometimes. Be sure to keep an eye on those students who go for the shove method! It is also helpful to have a once weekly desk clean-out to clear the unwanted litter.

Even with this structure, some students struggle with the spatial order of materials. The less materials to manage in a desk, the better. In these cases, you can add a seat sack to the back of the chair to keep essential items (agenda notebooks, homework folders).

Look for upcoming examples of adaptations for spatial order!

Cool School Tools - seat sack

Are you aways waiting for students to find their assignment notebooks at the end of the day, buried in a sea of loose papers in their desk? Well, look to the seat sack for instant organization! The seat sack can hold items that are used frequently during the school day. Available at Therapro (www.theraproducts.com/) and Childcraft (www.childcrafteducation.com/).